Was I right to walk out of restaurant ?

[lunar]

My wife, two children and I went to a restaurant in Birmingham. The place was about 3/4 full. We ordered a meal that was going to cost about £20. It was a simple meal, which should take little time to prepare.
After 25 minutes we were still waiting. But what frustrated me was couple of people who arrived after us were served first.I could see their orders were more expensive.
My wife asked them how much longer we would need to wait. Response was 5 minutes.
After 40 minutes I decided to walk out.
As we were leaving the premises the owner asked where we were going. He said the meal was ready and that we would need to pay. I told him to f off and departed. He said he was going to call the police.
We went instead to a fast food restaurant.

Should I have paid up?

 

[lunar]

It was only two sheesh kebab and a nan bread at £3.50

 

[lunar]

Leave a bad review too, threatening to call the police on a customer who's not been served in a timely manner, when they walk out - is pretty terrible.

I don't think it is possible to leave a review.
Also, they insist on cash only.

 

[lunar]

Don’t know what their set up is like in the kitchen and how many staff they have in the kitchen. I’d say if you are the only customer it can take as much as 10-15mins to cook that from fresh. If you imagine heating up the grill, putting it on, plating etc.

now not knowing what else they are cooking and how full their grill were, you said it’s 3/4 full, it’s possible that there were enough orders ahead of you, large enough to take over the grill for 30mins before there is room to begin cooking yours.

I hear “it’s ONLY this and that” all the time, but it’s ONLY this and that PLUS food for 20 other people. So without knowing their set up it’s hard to criticise. What I can say is that you are entitled to leave but you also should know that it is NOT in the restaurant’s best interest to make you wait. It’s in their best interest to give you the food, take your money and kick you out ASAP and the repeat that a hundred times a day. They would want to cook things instantly but if they want to maintain quality then cooking from fresh takes time.

But, everyone had been served. We were the only ones waiting. There were no people waiting for take-aways.
I was beginning to get the impression that because our dish was cheap and they probably preferred us to take it away.

 

[lunar]

Did the OP and Co fetch their own drinks in too ?

You read me like a book.
We did not order drinks because they cost too much. We may often get a coke for the kids to share.
Besides, I had a couple of cans in the fridge in my car!

 

[lunar]

What restaurant was it? But yeh, I would have have asked how long two sheesh kebab and a nan bread was going to take after 15 minutes. If he said 5-10 mins fine, but would have left if it didnt arrive in 10 mins.
You were right to walk out. I would have gone and asked at 30 mins and said "It's been another 5 mins, where's my food or i'm leaving?"

Cannot recall the name, but it was just off Sparkbrook in Birmingham. Not the sort of place you want to be around at night.

 

[lunar]

You'd have been better off going to a McDonalds really.

Trouble is, it doesn't really fill you up. Though we did go Berger King in the city centre

 

[lunar]

The bit he failed to mention was the whole time they were waiting he had his fridge plugged in to the restaurant's power socket.

Small one you can plug into the car. Argos sell for about £50

 

[lunar]

I walk out all the time if the service is not good enough. When I'm in the supermarket and realise I don't need/want something I just throw it in whatever Isle I'm on. Got to make them earn their wage!

Please don't do that.
Apparently, the staff who stack shelves and work at the back of the store have a hard time.
I know someone who works at a well known massive supermarket. The managers are ruthless.

 

[lunar]

What do those that do walk out, do about their drinks? Normally I find they can be quick enough to take your order and bring drinks over but then delayed with food.

You might not have entered into a contract to pay for the food at that point, but I'm sure by the time you've had a few slurps at your drink you'll have to pay for those.

Is that why they bring the drinks early. As I prefer to drink after a meal.

 

[lunar]

For what its worth to you guys that dont work in restaurants, Just eat, Deliveroo, etc all have priority over seated guests. When I worked at Toby carvery, 90% of the stuff is cooked and just put into take away packaging, but when you have 20 tickets each with at least 3-4 meals, thats a good damn lot of food to pack up. You barely have 5 mins to get an order ready for the drivers. When the drivers are waiting they are losing money and get arsey with the staff. This is my experience from working in restaurants. Obviously not all places use Just eat or Deliveroo etc. So if you are waiting long for your food I can say its because of deliveries if not the fact that the kitchen is probably short staffed as most kitchens are unless is a Michelin gaff.

There were no couriers coming to collect an order whilst we were seated for over 40 minutes; unless there is a back entrance for them, which I don't think there was.

 

[lunar]

We’ve all had to wait too long for food before and yes after a reasonable amount of time has been exceeded you can of course walk away assuming no food/drinks have been consumed.

Did I ever tell you all about the time I had to wait nearly an hour for a meal? Nope because you’d all be bored

OP if you ever truly want to experience a wait for food order a fillet of fish from McDonald’s.

If you visit a McDonald's which is situated in an East Asian area, then you will get your fillets in no time, as majority of the people in the area cannot eat the meat dishes.

 

[lunar]

Get out of here with your logic and reasonable thoughts.

Not long ago i picked up a refrigerated coconut milk from the long life isle, when i got to the checkout it wasn't discounted which alarmed me to the fact that someone just ditched the refrigerated one in the long life isle. At worst if it was gone off it would have tasted iffy, but point being the laziness caused me and staff hassle.

In regards to OP, sure walking out is fine if they said a timescale completely different to what was given. But if they were "ringing the police", then was probably an indication of not worth going there again. Going to mcdonalds was probably a mistake though

I think this was just to scare me.
I doubt I will visit that place again, as I live over 130 miles from premises. But they do make exceedingly good food